While the Mets might not have a problem lending Beltran to the Braves for a couple months before the outfielder and his agent Scott Boras hit the free agent market, the Braves might not be willing to provide the necessary return for a short term rental, especially when that return could significantly help a division rival’s future.

Still like the Giants, Tigers and Phillies, the Braves are expected to continue evaluating the benefits of acquiring Beltran, a former Gold Glove centerfielder who has played right field this year to lessen the wear placed on his surgically-repaired right knee.

If the Braves acquired Beltran, there is absolutely no guarantee he would only play center field. The Braves are happy with Jordan Schafer’s range in center and believe he is making the right progress as a leadoff hitter.

Instead Beltran could spend much of his time in right field where Jason Heyward has struggled this season. Heyward has hit .224 this year and just .173 against left-handed pitchers. His struggles against left-handers have led some to wonder if he should be utilized in a platoon or quite possibly sent to the Minors to fix his swing.

In other trade-related news involving the Braves, there was at least one Tigers scout in attendance to watch Derek Lowe’s start against the Rockies last night.

An all out bust after less than 1/2 seasons worth of games played? That’s an extreme reaction halfway through a poor season. He’s a 21 year old kid in his second season of big league ball. Bust is hardly the term.

Heyward is a bust, let’s call a spade a spade here. He is scared to hit and takes too many walks, he has made some errors, he gets injured all the time and won’t tuff it out like Chipper. What we really need to do is bring Francouer back and either send Heyward packing or back to the minors at least. Now that Francouer, he was a man. He had that winning smile and drive to win that you just can’t put on a stat sheet. Not like old sour faced mopey Heyward. Also, look at Francouer taking the Rangers to the world series last year? Frenchtober right there. And while Heyward’s OBP might be passable, if you nerdily run to the stats page, it feels like it’s much lower than it is.

You can’t even compare Heyward to Francouer, who put us on his broad, athletic, muscular, strong shoulders his first couple years and rode us into the playoffs. Remember that time he got up in A-Rod’s face. You see Heyward doing that? LOL. He’d probably try to lawyer a walk out of it.

And that strong muscular right arm The Frenchise had? Don’t even get me started. He turned sure doubles into singles. Baserunners didn’t even score from second on doubles with that hand cannon of an arm in RF. AMIRITE?!

Are you joking? Francouer didn’t take the Rangers anywhere. Tough it out like Chipper? I see you fed into the crap about Chipper calling out Heyward for staying on the DL. I read that article too. Chipper has stayed on the DL half his career. Francouer needs a hell of a lot more than a decent arm and a goofy smile if he ever wants anyone to even notice he still plays the game. He’s mediocre at best.

So we should… bench him and stunt his growth as a player? Send him back down, where he has nothing left to prove? Any changes he needs to make, he needs to do them while playing RF for the Atlanta Braves, because that’s where he’s going to be for the next (hopefully) 10+ years.

U R right about that, brother! Now that Jordan Schafer, he makes things happen at the top of the lineup! We need that kind of sparkplug at the top. And while his OBP is lower than Heywards, it sure doesn’t seem like it, does it? He’s the kind of player you have to have getting the most AB’s on the team. That speed he has just messes with pitchers’ heads, even when he’s not on base!

By Francoeur, you mean the guy who had no patience and in any two ML seasons combined has failed to draw as many walks as Heyward did as a rookie? IF so, then yes, I do remember. He came in hot and failed to adjust to the league after amassing 2632 PAs before he was sent packing from Atlanta. By my count, Heyward has 1739 mediocre PAs to go before he earns the Frenchy comparisons.

No way will the Braves bring Francoeur back. The whole organization was down on this guy and rightfully so. Heyward still has time to turn things around this season, but he needs to listen and learn. Most importantly, figure out how to stay healthy. I mean really, have you ever seen a young kid with so much promise stay hurt all the time? I bet he has 12 days are less to show promise or he will be a platoon player for the remainder of this season. The Braves are fighting for the division and can’t afford much more patience.

Ok francoeur did nothing for the braves he was great when we got him but he got worse and worse each year do i think the braves should go get beltran yes i do ik schafer is playing great you have carlos play ceter field and use jordan as a bench guy so if heyward is still doing nothing you have jordan go play center and move carlos to right plus a big bat would help the braves cus right now or team batting avg. is shit with the 5th worst batting avg. its amazing were winning games he would be a good addition to the team and would help us try to win the NL east.

I never wanna see Frenchy in a Braves uniform again. The Braves OF as a whole has sucked with the exception of Prado. Heyward needs to get his butt off the bench and produce. Beltran would be a great addition to the lineup. How about getting Mclouth out of there and let Hinske play a little more? Beltran needs to start every day if the Braves pick him up. Schafer gets a C- as a lead-off hitter and a C+ in center. Heyward needs to actually play before he can prove anything. Maybe we should consider a real hitting coach instead of sending him down to the minors. Perhaps they could move Beltran between right and center and let Schafer and Heyward share some time in the OF. If they pick up an OF bat it appears the Braves will have an abundance of OF help. They could use a utility infielder, especially someone to back up Gonzalez.

This Just In Nate Mclouth avg. 225, Jordan Schafer avg. 226, and Alex Gonzalez avg. 227. At least Uggla is hitting homeruns. But we have four starters below 230. I’m sorry but we need to make a move now! I can live with Gonzalez but Schafer and Mclouth are not producing! Schafer is not doing a great job, his obp is terrible and he is treading water about to drown along with Mclouth. Does the front office not pay attention to stats or advanced sabermetrics. Baseball is a game of numbers and these players are have not and are not gonna help us!

Heyward isnt going anywhere . He is the future of the Braves . Is he having a sophmore slump maybe but his thumb wasnt healthy at the start of the season and maybe never be great . Francoeur had the biggest hole in a bat since david kingman or rob deer . If were going to make a run then i say get Beltran but not for a top future pitchers .

Little bit early to throw the term ‘bust’ out there, isn’t it? I think the correct term is ‘disappointment’ given the overwhelming praise the kid got before stepping foot onto Turner Field. Heyward has already shown potential long term injury concerns, and could be tagged as a potential bust, but at this point he’s a kid with insane raw skills, who really has only played a couple of healthy months in the major leagues. He’s not being demoted, he’s being forced to grow on the field. As terrible as some of the front office and managerial decisions have been thus far in ’11, Heyward being moved would be the worst. He will need to get healthy, and he’ll need to make the adjustment that many young stars do…don’t be as selective with pitches just to work the count. Similarly to Carlos Santana of the Indians, start driving those 1-0 fastballs to the gap, rather than looking to extend the pitch counts.

You guys calling Heyward a bust are drama queens! Does he need some work? Sure he does. He is 21 with only 1 full season in the majors. It’s hard to even take most of these comments seriously. Take your panties off guys and quit acting like little sissies that have their panties in a wad over Heyward.

Heyward will be fine, he is having a slump right now, look at how many people were down on Uggla before he started hitting homeruns.. Trading Brachy for Gomes sounds good but who knows. I say trade Lowe for Felix Hernandez, trade Nate and KK and bring in Chris Young from the D backs, trade Moylan for Adams and then the Braves could have a chance. its too soon to write this team off. Beltran is a waste of time, the guy spends more time on the DL than he does on the field.

I wonder if the Braves will show any intrest in J.D Drew and maybe sign him to a minor league contract, he has always hit well in Atlanta. I know Drew has had some injuries but he can still hit and be a pinch hitter and take some of the pressure off Hinske.

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